caterpillars (1 Viewer)

[Shine]

it's a long shot i suppose, but have any of you ever had a pet caterpillar?

i found a caterpillar place to post this, but it doesn't look like anyone replies to all the pleading questions from gimping idiots that won't just throw out a creepy crawlie...

i'm in dublin city. i found a green caterpillar in a christmas tree i brought home a couple of days ago. it is about 2 or 2 and a half inches long, silky smooth bright green with a pale stripe on either side. i stuck it in a little box with a bit of the tree, a few leaves from outside and from the fridge. it's been chomping away on the flat-leaf parsley and pooing - so i think it's doing ok. (although the poo is a worrying shade of dark green!)
i found this caresheet which is pretty comprehensive http://www.projects.ex.ac.uk/bugclub/cater.html.

my question is, it being inside, am i just fooling it into thinking it should be eating and growing when it should be overwintering? maybe it was up in the christmas tree looking for a place to pupate? how do i know if it's ready to do that? should i provide it with some earth and twigs and space to do that in? i'd like to put it outside (small "garden"). it's not too cold. just very very wet. but it's not from here, i don't know what it'd eat out there and i just have a sneaking suspision i'd be sending it off to certain death... i don't know. thanks for any help!

i had to go back over the post after i wrote it to change all the "him"s to "it"s. hard-hearted non-anthropomorphologist me.

his name is
creepy
he's very
cute
i'm afraid he's going to
die

 

[Lord Damian]

i had a caterpillar once

mom made me get rid of it cuz it was shitting everywhere

 

[La La]

i kept heaps of them as pets when i was younger. they always disappeared or died though..........

 

[MDR]

I had a pet that i though was a caterpillar until one day it turned into a beautiful swan.

 

[Lefty Frizzell]

I had a pet that i though was a caterpillar until one day it turned into a beautiful swan.

I hear theres some extreme makeover show on TV where swans with low self confidence get plastic surgery and positive psychotherapy and then get reintroduced into the wild.

 

[Shine]

hmmm thanks guyze... i think.
he's looking very healthy this morning. 3 more poops last night. getting fatter. i think he's grown longer too.. but probably not as they're meant to grow by moulting.

i had him in an icecream tub originally - with some clingfilm over the top and some holes. it was full of all sorts of cabage and different leaves and earth incase he had a gizzard and water in case he needed a drink. But apparently that stuff's not good for him so i cleared it all out and put him in a peanut butter jar with just stalks of parsley in a little lid of water (and cotton wool to stop him drowning)...
but i think he needs a bigger home
can someone (who understands german) make me a caterpillar box please?!

or maybe i should just buy a parsley plant and stick him outside on it.

i'd miss him though, and worry about him. little crunchy munchy hungry gobbler. (i'd blame the boy but he's only slightly interested)

 

[MDR]

I hear theres some extreme makeover show on TV where swans with low self confidence get plastic surgery and positive psychotherapy and then get reintroduced into the wild.

If you get too close to the contestants they break your arm.

 

[therealjohnny]

Is it a jive green caterpillar?

the only thing i know about them is that they never, never, never

wear brown boots

 

[Bellatrix]

Maybe you should consult this?

I have no useful advice about keeping things alive. I've killed two plants in two days.

 

[ernesto]

Maybe you should consult this?

I have no useful advice about keeping things alive. I've killed two plants in two days.

a catterpillar bit me on the leg when i was quite younger. theyre bastards! maybe it was this guy?

 

[Rachel666]

kept a snail farm in my communion shoes box... learnt so much from them. like how they give birth and shit, they shit in long lines of poo. interesting...

 

[Shine]

Maybe you should consult this?

I have no useful advice about keeping things alive. I've killed two plants in two days.

the boy has this book, it was the first thing i tripped over after i found the little squishy.. i took it as a sign.

he still alive and munching btw

 

[Shine]

OH GOOD LORD NOOOOOOO!!!!
he's escaped.
i came home after a couple of unexpected days away and he had started to pupate on the water bottle cap... stuck his bum on there anyway. i only realised this after i tried to get him up onto some new bits of parsley and transfer him to a clean box.. so i moved the whole thing, got some sticks and put them around him with food in the new box and clingfilmed it (with airholes)... but not tightly enough. now he's on the loose in my house! oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
what have i done?